Aesk 'Thorak
Many are drawn to the deserts of Thorak'tamin. Some are religious pilgrims who come to venerate the Forerunner relics and the various shrines erected to Covenant martyrs. Others are fortune seekers, who vainly search (often fatally) for the fabled Venarthema Structure, buried deep underneath the surface of the gas giant the world orbits. Still others are social outcasts, exiles ejected from their homeworlds for crimes committed and sent to Thorak'tamin as both punishment and opportunity - many have found redemption in the shifting sands, returning as respected warriors and leaders. Most perish. To live at all on Thorak'tamin, cut off from Sangheili society, is to dedicate oneself to a life of austerity and constant threat of death - it is hardly surprising that those who survive more than a year on the planet are regarded by other Sangheili as almost warrior monks, guarding the secrets of the planet with silent and lethal efficiency. Of them, perhaps the most famous is Aesk 'Thorak. Exiled long ago from his homeworld for shameful acts of cowardice that resulted in his clan stripping him of his honour, Aesk was sent to Thorak'tamin to prove himself worthy of survival. If the desert judged him unfit, it would kill him. If he was worthy, then he would be welcomed back with open, if suspicious, arms. If he lived, his people expected him home within a year - he had been an important figure, trusted by his clan and honoured by his peers. All of this was twenty years ago. Since his exile, Aesk has become Thorak'tamin's longest permanent resident, surviving in the desert for two decades, a feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that he has shunned the small communities that have sprung up to support one another, living in solitude. During the Battle of Devout Foreboding, he became a sniper using a confiscated enemy weapon, with a confirmed kill count in the hundreds and suspected to be higher, and is considered a senior member of the Thorak Legion despite the fact that he remains only an unofficial member. Even this was not enough to draw him out from his life of solitude, where he remained until the outbreak of the Second Great War, taking command of the Thorak Legion the only way he knew how - by killing his predecessor, Olar 'Sundarma, founder of the legion. Since then, he has gained a fearsome reputation, on both sides of the war - to his allies, he is known as a brilliant general, favouring small-unit low-intensity strikes against key targets, giving little warning and leaving no survivors. To his enemies, he is regarded as the vengeful arm of Sanghelian fury, and perhaps the embodiment of their outrage as a species. It is fortunate for the SAF, then, that he has chosen to ally with rather than against them, due to past grudges against the Governors of Contrition - the additional promise of Thorak'tamin as a sovereign colony, the removal of the human presence, the shutting down of the pilgrimage industry and him as warlord over his own little fiefdom did much to further sweeten the deal for him. History Early Life Betrayal Exile Blood Covenant Governors of Contrition Personality Remarks Category:Sangheili